The Discipline of Naming
Most companies treat naming as a one-off task: a sprint to label a new product or umbrella brand. But names don’t exist in isolation. Without a clear strategy, even great names collapse into chaos. Naming is not creativity alone. It’s discipline—a system that ensures consistency, clarity, and long-term value.
When naming decisions happen ad hoc, the result is fragmentation. Different teams invent different systems, and customers (and employees) get lost in the maze.
Take Microsoft. For years, product groups created names independently. The result? Overlaps between Windows Live, MSN services, and small business products. Confusion diluted impact.
Google keeps it simple: one brand, endless extensions. Google + Product Name.
This approach builds trust. Every product inherits the authority of the parent brand.
BMW strips out words entirely, using numbers and letters to signal precision and hierarchy:
Technical, scalable, globally neutral. Numbers don’t get lost in translation.
IKEA turns naming into a brand story. Categories follow themes:
What began as a practical solution for a dyslexic founder became a hallmark of distinctiveness.
Names must stand out in a crowded market. Whether it’s Google’s uniformity, BMW’s numeric code, or IKEA’s cultural flair, the system makes products recognisable.
Names should feel like part of the same family. Without consistency, you risk creating an internal dictionary only employees can decipher. Customers won’t do the extra work.
A disciplined naming strategy isn’t about limiting creativity. It’s about creating a framework where creativity compounds. Each new name reinforces the ones before it.
Done right, naming becomes an operating system for your brand: scalable, memorable, and flexible enough to adapt as you grow.
Naming is not a one-off creative burst. It’s a discipline—one that can either fuel your brand’s growth or fracture it into confusion.
At Namudio, we help founders and companies build naming systems, not just names. Because the strongest brands don’t just name products. They build naming architectures that last for decades.
